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[personal profile] meanfreepath
I have now registered to take the General GRE. I am scheduled for 2:00 pm on Wednesday, July 27, in Philly.

I know the general GRE is not supposed to be that big a deal, that it doesn't really matter for physics grad school applicants, yet all the same registering for this seems to carry an awful weight, the realization that the beginning of the end of my undergraduate days is at hand. The "what to do after Swat" question is beginning to hit home.

As recently as six months ago, had anyone asked me what my post-Swat plans were, they would have gotten a definite response: physics grad school, a postdoc, and then becoming a physics prof somewhere. Now I'm a lot more unsure. There are times when I feel like getting away from physics for a while, times when I think that perhaps a year or so off before grad school would be a good thing. Were it possible, I wouldn't mind the possibility of getting a job doing research in a lab somewhere, preferably near Swat, perhaps at Penn (this would involve making a convincing case to people that I can do stuff other than plasma physics). I could also see myself trying out high school physics teaching somewhere for a year. Right now I honestly don't know. At any rate, it's likely that I will be going to grad school at some point, so taking the GRE now won't hurt.

In other news, things progress slowly in the lab... I haven't had as much time to write or think about theory stuff lately. I'm working on signal connectors for the PMT array (trying to decide how to build these was what was driving me crazy on Friday). I got a couple done this evening, but the process is slow and involves much delicate cutting and soldering. I will be away for part of this week as Julian's graduating from high school on Tuesday; I'm thus going home late tomorrow afternoon.

And oh yeah... I learned today just why one shouldn't attempt to put out a grease fire with water. The fire school instructors had ignited a pot of cooking oil. With a small cup on a 8 or 12 foot pole, one of them poured some water on the fire, upon which a terrific fireball flared at least 15 feet high into the sky. Even 20 or 30 feet away, where we were observing, the blast of heat from the fireball was palpable. One of my teammates had a digital camera and got a shot... hopefully she'll be able to get me the picture. Other highlights of an otherwise exhausting day included pulling ceilings and walls (me with pike pole: "Huzzah!" *thunk*) and putting out some burning hay with a pressurized water extinguisher.

Date: 2005-06-20 08:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] obcordate.livejournal.com
It's good to take a break and do something else. I really think that would be the perfect thing for you.

The only complication I can see is if you have any student loans. You'll have to negotiate with the loan corporation to have them deferred while you're not a student.

If it were at all possible, I'd kidnap you (and maybe a couple other peoples) after we graduate and we'd go travelling in Asia. Ah well, some day.

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